How Do Internet-Related Characteristics Affect Whether Members of a German Mixed-Mode Panel Switch from the Mail to the Web Mode?

Abstract

In recent years, several longitudinal studies have transitioned from an interviewer-administered to a mixed-mode design, using the internet as one of the modes of data collection. However, a substantial proportion of panelists are reluctant to participate in web surveys when offered a choice in an ongoing mixed-mode panel. We still know little about the characteristics of panel members that drive them to comply with the request to complete surveys via the internet. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating how internet-related characteristics are linked to the willingness of panelists to switch from the mail mode to the web. We use data from multiple waves of the GESIS Panel, a probability-based mixed-mode panel in Germany (N = 5734). A web-push intervention motivated 28% of 1364 panelists of the mail mode to complete the survey online in a single wave and 70% of these 380 short-term switchers to switch to the web mode permanently. We measured indicators of internet use, internet skills, and attitudes toward the internet as potential mechanisms of this short-term and long-term mode switching in the two waves before the intervention. Our results suggest that internet use and internet skills affect respondents’ willingness to switch modes in a single wave. For these short-term switchers, however, none of the internet-related characteristics could explain mode switching in the long term. We also present self-reported reasons by panelists for not accepting the offer to switch modes that correspond to these findings. The results of this study can be used to develop effective push-to-web methods for longitudinal mixed-mode surveys.